1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a cutting insert carrier, also termed a blade head, in particular for a face milling cutter, comprising a tool basic body, which has a plurality of insert seats, in particular distributed around the circumference thereof, for receiving cutting inserts for workpiece machining.
2. Description of Related Art
It is necessary for the cutting insert carrier to be regularly fitted with the cutting inserts, in particular indexable cutting inserts, which become worn during workpiece machining and which therefore must be exchanged. The individual indexable cutting inserts in this case must be aligned in a defined position in their insert seats, such that the cutting edges of the individual cutting inserts lie on a common circumferential line or in a common machining plane. Owing to the large number of cutting inserts, exchanging the cutting inserts in the case of such a tool is usually very time-consuming, since each cutting insert has to be fastened individually into the respective insert seat by means of a respective clamping element, for example by means of a clamping claw or clamping screw. In addition, frequently, further setting elements are provided for fine adjustment.
For example, in this case the cutting insert carrier has more than about ten cutting inserts. Such cutting insert carriers typically have diameters that, depending on the field of application, start at about 50 mm to 60 mm and go up to about 250 mm. For special applications, the diameters can also be considerably greater than these and can be, for example, up to 2 m.